


Fourth Time's NOT The Charm

by SaraJaye



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bad Cooking, Baking fails, Birthday Cake, Established Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Keith can't bake, Keith just wants to be a good boyfriend, M/M, Overconfidence, cake wrecks, kitchen disasters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 23:03:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18040760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: He just wanted to bake a cake for his boyfriend's birthday.





	Fourth Time's NOT The Charm

"How hard could it be?" Famous last words, but he'd honestly thought he had it in the bag. He'd seen Hunk do it dozens of times, the kitchen was full of cookbooks, and he'd always been pretty decent at fractions. And it was a simple sponge cake, meant to be frosted and covered with sliced strawberries. Sponge cakes were easy. And if determination was enough to get him through his Marmora trials, it was enough to make sure the cake turned out right.

Three disasters later, every shred of confidence and determination Keith had felt when he entered the kitchen was long gone now. The first cake fell, the second one burned, the third one didn't rise at all, this one was his last chance. He was out of eggs and baking powder.

"Just five more minutes," he mumrured as he measured sugar and vanilla into the designated frosting bowl. "Okay, this should be-"

A _glurp_ followed by a _splat_ caught his attention, and he dropped the vanilla into the bowl.

"Oh, quiznak!" The cake had risen, all right, so much that a bubble had formed on the top and burst all over the sides of the pan and the oven itself. "No, no, no! Aaargh, Hunk's gonna kill me," he groaned as he turned off the oven and grabbed for the pan. _Oww!_ Right, the oven mitts. Keith grabbed them off the counter, cursing as he knocked over the bag of sugar, and pulled the cake out.

It was still raw in the center. The oven was a mess, and baking any further would burn the mess and then it'd be impossible to clean.

"Okay, clean the oven first, then put the cake back in, and-"

The too-strong scent of vanilla hit his nose. The bottle was empty, and a good chunk of the confectioner's sugar was totally saturated. No problem, he thought, he'd just add the milk and a little butter.

The milk was starting to go sour.

"Why me?"

He didn't dare check the strawberries. With his luck, they'd probably gone rotten and moldy just sitting in the fridge by now.

Footsteps drew close. Someone was coming, probably Hunk.

Keith threw his hands up in defeat, forehead pressed against the counter. This was it, Hunk was the nicest guy in the world except when it came to cooking, and anyone who wrecked his kitchen got an earful no matter how much he liked them. _Fuck my life, fuck my life, fuck my-_

"Keith? Baby, what happened?" Keith squeaked in fear as he recognized the voice of his boyfriend, who was supposed to be out of the kitchen for... _for three hours. It's long past that. Double quiznak!_ "Something smells good." Keith groaned, bringing his arms up to the counter to bury his face in them.

"I ruined your surprise," he mumbled. "I had it all planned out and I ruined it, cause I thought I could handle it on my own." The half-baked cake still sat on the counter, the batter probably hardening by now, and the sugar was crystalizing in the bowl. "I just wanted to make your birthday awesome."

"Aw, Keith..." Shiro came up behind him and patted the back of his head, his metal arm wrapping around Keith's waist. "You already make my birthday awesome just by being here! You didn't have to go to all that trouble for me, I would've been just as fine with a store-bought cake and spending the evening with you."

Keith lifted his head with a smile, shaking his head.

"Damn it, Shiro, why do you always have to be so sweet?"

"Because I love you." Shiro pulled Keith close, kissing his temple, and Keith snuggled against his chest, nuzzling his shoulder.

"Maybe I can fix the fourth cake," he murmured as they headed for their room to clean up. Shiro raised an eyebrow.

" _Fourth_ cake?" Keith sighed.

"Baking is a science, and that's not one of my better subjects. But I could still-"

Shiro turned him towards the mirror over the dresser. Keith saw a man covered in flour and other sticky ingredients, hair a mess, and looking on the verge of collapse. Trying to fix a cake right now would make him lose it, and he didn't want to ruin Shiro's birthday with a frustration meltdown.

"Why don't I take you out for ice cream?" Surely he could leave the kitchen for later, right?

 

When they got back an hour later, a sign was plastered on the kitchen door stating that Certain People were no longer allowed to bake anything without supervision. Ever.

"I feel so called out," Keith said with a chuckle. Considering how Hunk _could_ have reacted, this wasn't too bad.


End file.
